High-level martial arts: Contract cashback, invincible starting from the Zerg.

In the makeshift canteen at the base.

The light gray cement walls reflected the white light of the flat panel lights, and the terrazzo floor was so clean that the outlines of the stainless steel tables and chairs were visible.

The only sound in the entire restaurant was the conversation of four people at a table in one corner. It was so quiet that you could hear the soft clinking of spoons against porcelain bowls. The four people at the corner table were talking in hushed tones, creating a quiet yet warm and intimate atmosphere.

Leijia, Chen Feng, and the Xuri siblings sat around a table, but the food in front of them was just ordinary food—mixed grain rice, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, braised beef brisket with potatoes, and stir-fried lettuce.

Each of the four had a bowl of steaming seaweed and egg drop soup beside them, the soup clear and bright.

"What's wrong, Reika? Is the food here not to your liking?"

Chen Feng noticed that Lei Jia was acting strangely, so he reached out and moved the chicken leg from his plate to Lei Jia's plate.

"You used up a lot of energy during the combat training this morning, so you should eat more."

Upon hearing this, Leijia's eyes seemed to once again reveal an unconcealable sense of guilt.

She bit her lower lip, her gaze fixed on Chen Feng's face, filled with a sense of helplessness and self-reproach.

"It's not about the food... Chen Feng, if things were going to end up like this, I should have made it clear to you back at the training ground that Xu Shaohua and I didn't actually have that much of a grudge..."

Upon hearing Lei Jia's explanation, Chen Feng simply smiled calmly.

"It's alright. The identity of the field team isn't actually that good. Every day they risk their lives to go out and earn base points, and they don't even know if they'll come back."

"Chen Feng..."

Leijia murmured to herself, her slender fingers unconsciously digging into the edge of her plate, her voice filled with self-reproach.

"You two shouldn't be upset. Chen Feng has only been demoted, not sentenced to death," Xu Ri Dong Cuo said loudly.

"In my opinion, Brother Feng, you must be too amazing to be targeted by Deputy Commander Xu Yingzheng! Otherwise, how come it became your fault when that good-for-nothing Xu Shaohua provoked you?" Xu Ri Ying immediately chimed in.

As she spoke, Rising Sun Cherry's eyes lit up.

"By the way, Sister Leijia, I heard you mention before that you know a friend of the base commander, right?"

Leijia nodded slightly, the guilt in her eyes fading a little: "Yes, I'm fairly familiar with him."

"The Commander has always been at odds with Xu Yingzheng. Now that we're siding with the Commander, isn't that perfect?"

"That makes things much easier!" Xu Ri Ying said excitedly. "Hasn't the Commander always been at odds with Xu Yingzheng? Why don't we just side with the Commander? Maybe Feng-ge can get reinstated!"

"It's not that simple."

Xu Ri Dong Cuo put down his chopsticks, tapping his fingertips lightly on the table, his tone calm and steady.

"The discord between the Commander and Xu Yingzheng has never been a true confrontation, but rather a check and balance of power within the base. Xu Yingzheng controls the defensive aura and nearly half of the military power, and has many people who are loyal to him. Even if the Commander is dissatisfied, he cannot rashly move against him, otherwise it will only cause internal strife within the base."

Leijia nodded, looking at Chen Feng and adding, "Dongcuo is right. The commander's friend I know also mentioned to me that Xu Yingzheng seems to have external forces involved behind him, which is why the commander has been hesitant to take action. Chen Feng's demotion this time is likely Xu Yingzheng's way of warning those who refuse to submit to him."

"External forces? Could you elaborate?" Chen Feng asked, puzzled.

"I don't know the specifics, but I heard from a friend that there seems to be another Great Xia military organization operating in this area. They don't have many people, but their combat strength is quite good. Xu Yingzheng has just made initial contact with them."

"So that's how it is," Chen Feng said thoughtfully, a hint of seriousness flashing in his eyes.

An organization that could attract Xu Yingzheng, a Heavenly Realm expert, to actively seek refuge with could not possibly be as simple as just having "decent combat strength".

When this topic came up, Xu Ri Dong Cuo's expression darkened.

His tone became even more solemn.

"I've also heard of this organization. A month ago, a level 4 mutated beast tide appeared dozens of kilometers away from the base. However, just over ten minutes later, all the mutated beast signals disappeared."

Xu Ri Dong Cuo continued to recall the details of that operation.

"There were no signs of heavy weaponry at the scene, but all the mutated behemoths seemed to have been cleaved in two by a powerful force, and their cores were gone."

"So that's how it is." A smile appeared on Chen Feng's lips.

Chen Feng couldn't help but think of Xia Zhi, the former special envoy of the Great Xia Dynasty.

He slowly leaned back in his chair, but the image of Xia Zhi, the former special envoy of the Great Xia Dynasty, involuntarily surfaced in his mind.

Before engaging the behemoths, she led seven Heavenly Rank experts out of Sera City to venture deep into the behemoth's interior in search of the Avatars. But now, two months have passed, and the Summer Solstice Envoy has vanished without a trace, as if he had evaporated into thin air.

At this moment, the smile on Asahi Sakura's face faded, and her tone became somewhat unwilling.

"Are we just going to stand by and watch Brother Feng get bullied? It was clearly that good-for-nothing Xu Shaohua who provoked you first, so why are you the one being punished?!"

Chen Feng's expression remained indifferent, with not a trace of hostility in his eyes.

But deep within Chen Feng's eyes lay a barely perceptible sharpness, like a dormant blade waiting to be drawn.

"Being demoted may not be a bad thing. Perhaps I can take this opportunity to try and return to the territory of Great Xia."

"Huh? Back in the territory of Great Xia?"

Rising Sun Cherry suddenly waved her hand and said urgently.

"Brother Feng, it won't work! If you want to return to Starfish City, you have to go through Daye Upper City, which is now full of giant beasts and Darkborn. You can't get through alone!"

"Sakura is right, Chen Feng," Xu Ri Dong Cuo also advised. "In this Beast Wasteland, no one can survive alone without the organization. Going alone is no different from suicide."

After Leijia slowly took a sip of soup, a hint of determination appeared in her eyes.

"Chen Feng, actually I know another way to keep you at this base, and it might even be possible to get you back into the field operations team."